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Virus on board!!

Sail Date:
August 2012

Destination:
Canada & New England

Embarkation:
New York (Manhattan)

We are a married couple, travelling on our second cruise. Our first cruise, on another line and to Bermuda, was a very lovely experience. As my husband is not a big fan of sitting in the sun, we hoped that this shorter cruise to Nova Scotia would be more to our liking. A few days of sun and two interesting ports to see.

I will start with the problem. On the night of the 3rd day, I became very ill with a GI problem. I found out later that I was not the only one with the problem. I am guessing that 75-100 people had the same problem. I spent the better part of the day in the cabin, in the bathroom, voiding from both ends. Sorry - no other ways to say it. When I did get to the infirmary, I saw that I was surrounded by others with the same issue. The 2 doctors and nurses were extremely busy with all of the people, but not well organized. Some people were told that they were quarantined for 24 hours, but not all. This was not conveyed to the housekeeping staff as they More
asked me to leave my room when they finally showed up to clean up. Yes, they were very busy, but my room needed attention and we had to ask 4 times before someone came to clean. I was contacted the next day to see how I was and at first was told that I could not eat in the dining room, but could eat in the buffets. That did not make much sense to me. Shortly before leaving the ship I asked if they knew what we "had" so that I could speak with my own doctor. I was told that they did not know. Data was collected for the CDC, so we may hear more.

I was unable to visit Halifax. My husband stayed with me, just in case I needed him. He left the ship for an hour's walk into Halifax. In order to make up for our inconvenience (?) Carnival let us disembark with an earlier group. Wooppee!! We had lost 20% of our vacation. I don't know how often these things happen, but once is too much. On our first cruise, the staff was constantly cleaning handrails and bathrooms. We were strongly offered Purell whenever we went into the food areas. This did not happen on the Glory. I don't know if it would have prevented the virus, but it could not have hurt.

If this review is too long for you, you can stop reading at this point. I want you to be aware of the virus and how it was handled by Carnival.

The embarking procedure went smoothly and relatively quickly. No complaints there. The cabin was clean and had plenty of room for the huge amount of stuff that we always take. The cabin steward introduced himself and the housekeeping staff was always friendly. The room was kept tidy. Another reviewer noted the lack of garbage bags and I would agree that it adds to the level of cleanliness.

It was a full ship and it was difficult to find a place that did not have a lot of noise. Another complaint, which seems to be true on many ships, is that people put towels on the couches and stake them out for the day, making it difficult for others to use them.

Along those lines, while the well equipped gym clearly stated that cardio equipment could be used for only 30 minutes when the gym was busy, this was not always respected and did not appear to be reinforced.

The food was OK. The buffet food was too fat laden for my taste. The salads were good as was the fruit. Sit down dinner food was better on 4 of the five nights, but not really terrific. We felt that the staff was very rushed and it was difficult to engage in conversation with any of them, something that we had enjoyed during our first cruise. Also, because we engaged more, we had better service and ended up tipping considerably more than was "suggested." This did not happen on this cruise as everyone seemed too busy to pay any special attention to us. They were working very hard but perhaps did not benefit monetarily because they could not interact as much with the guests.

We enjoyed the shows and the entertainment. We do not gamble and we drink very little. I would not buy expensive jewelry or artwork on a ship. We enjoyed our few hours in St. John. The New Brunswick museum was very interesting and worth seeing. We chose to walk around and enjoyed the architecture and the local market. Did not see Halifax, for reasons explained, above. Less

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Cabin review: Carnival Glory Oceanview Main 2454

Cabin 2454 was perfectly fine, except when the ship was moving quickly. Then, there was vibrating and noise. Not terribly unpleasant but noticeable.
ONe final note. The mattresses were marked with the date on 6/30/12, which we took to mean that they were brand new. They were extremely comfortable.